ON THE CULTURE OF THE GESNERIA SELLOTVII AND BULBOSA. 



growth aright, the pinching is much less injurious than the heavy lopping of 

 shoots two or three feet long, annually, for three years. 



Nor can it be a valid objection that too much time and attention are requisite 

 during the one summer in which the pinching must be done. A careful considera- 

 tion of what has been said above, or at least actual experiment, will prove that 

 time and trouble have been saved. 



The operator will be surprised at the speed and facility with which he can nil) 

 out the tender tops, compared with the time and toil of cutting the large, hard, 

 and thorny wood of a year's growth. 



Even if hedges could not be treated so "by the mile," this will not diminish the 

 importance of the method to thousands of cultivators around our cities and vil- 

 lages, whose valuable products can be secured only by an impassable barrier of 

 thorns. 



For such purposes, the Orange hedge is unrivalled. To the fruit garden it is a 

 body-guard of spearmen, ever ready to impale transgressors. 



I do not say that hedges cannot be made thick and close by any other method, 

 but only that I have found this a certain method, and I think it the best. 



I should add, that in treating a newly-planted hedge, I would allow it to grow 

 for due season to establish the roots. The next spring I would cut down to within 

 three inches of the ground, and then commence the pinching of young shoots, as 

 already described. 



The extent to which the roots will exhaust the soil, being in proportion to the 

 height and breadth allowed to the hedge itself, is very much under our own con- 

 trol in trimming. You may also root-prune by a deep furrow, which will limit 

 the extension of the roots near the surface, and there will be uo trouble with 

 suckers. 



OX THE CULTUIIB OF THE GESNERIA SELLOWII 

 AND BULBOSA. 



BY EDGAR SANDERS, ALBANY, N. Y. 



The two plants above mentioned may, perhaps, be considered too old, espe- 

 cially the last named, to require any writing about. However this may be, I 

 venture to send a few practical directions which may not, perhaps, be in vain, as 

 I do not remember to have met with any remarks on this fine stove i)lant, in the 

 published volumes of the HorticultnrUt. The Gesneria hulhosa is an old acquaint- 

 ance, having been known for many years, while the SeUowii is of comparative 

 recent introduction (183Y), altogether superior to the former, and I hesitate not 

 to set it down as one of the best plants that can be grown in the hothouse for 



nter flowering. The principal difference in the two is, that in bulbosa, the 

 ers all spring from a common centre, while in Sellowii they spring 



